COLLEGE BASKETBALL

COLLEGE BASKETBALL; Rare Brand of Dedication Has Miami on the Rise

By CHARLIE NOBLES

Published: January 13, 1998

CORAL GABLES, Fla.—
Leonard Hamilton has preached commitment to his University of Miami basketball players so often and so passionately that two of them have surprised even him.

Guard Vernon Jennings has a tattoo of the school mascot, the ibis, a large wading bird, on his right arm. And forward Lucas Barnes has a split ''U'' with a basketball in it on the back of a shoulder.

''I don't know of any other Division I-A program where two kids have felt so strongly about their school that they have the school emblem on their arms,'' Hamilton said. ''That's the kind of chemistry that has developed among our players.''

In Hamilton's eighth season as coach, the Hurricanes are attracting national attention, especially after a 76-67 victory last week over Connecticut, which is ranked 10th in the Associated Press poll. Despite stumbling over the weekend at No. 21 West Virginia, Miami is ranked 26th and will carry a 12-2 record into tonight's game at St. John's.

For Hamilton, it has been mostly a pothole-filled journey to see Miami finally distinguish itself from the large pool of yearly Division I also-rans. Whereas the university's football program has been a staple of the college game -- at least until recently -- its basketball program has hardly created a ripple. It came into this season with just one National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament appearance in 47 seasons, and that was in 1960.

Hamilton, who spent 12 seasons as an assistant coach at Kentucky and helped Austin Peay State and Oklahoma State become post-season tournament teams, had heard about the abject apathy that surrounded Miami's basketball program in 1990. But he came anyway.

''I believe in some ways we all have a purpose in life, and we all have a destiny,'' said Hamilton, 49. ''I feel that this is my purpose. It's my way of contributing in some way to young people by taking a situation like Miami and being focused enough to make the sacrifices to bring it to this point.''

Hamilton learned early never to allow his players to moan about the team's mostly pathetic home attendance, even when they often would play in packed arenas on the road. Things were supposed to get better when Miami joined the Big East, but its first Big East team, in Hamilton's second season, went 0-18 in the conference.

Then there were the frequent injuries, which cast a perpetual pall over the program.

''There were times when we'd go into games with six or seven people,'' Hamilton said. ''And sometimes they were not even starters.''

During one vexing stretch, one player sustained a leg stress fracture while jogging; one ruptured tendons when his finger was caught in an opponent's jersey, and a third player broke two front teeth in a collision with a player's head.

In the January after his team's 0-18 Big East debut, Hamilton broke away from watching films one night to attend his church's bible conference. He slipped into his seat late, just as a man from Nebraska, Maurice Watson, was about to speak.

''That sermon did more to rejuvenate my spirits than anything has ever done,'' Hamilton said. ''It was just what I needed. He said the testing of your faith builds character. That it's easy to be joyful when things are going well. But the real test of your character comes when things aren't going well, and how you respond.''

Hamilton can smile a bit these days. His program's glaring negatives -- little tradition, spotty home attendance -- do not seem to matter that much now.

The senior guard Steve Frazier, from Andrew Jackson High in Queens, could easily be the poster person for the Hurricanes. He has overcome four knee operations and been granted an extra season by the N.C.A.A. to be part of the good times.

''All the injuries I've had have made me a lot stronger and made me think about a lot of things, made me take a lot of things serious,'' Frazier said. ''And I'm glad to be here. Everybody's playing together and sacrificing and doing what it takes to make the team go.''

Added Hamilton: ''It appears that with each obstacle, we've grown stronger in faith in all areas -- personally, religiously, spiritually -- and in each other. If you watch our kids, you can see they believe in each other.''

The Hurricanes start three sophomores, a junior and a senior, so Hamilton is careful not to saddle his team with too many expectations.

''We realize that we still are a developing team,'' he said. ''Just the same, I really believe our sophomores have been able to fit in so well because of the work ethic drilled in them by last year's seniors. They would just whip those freshmen's behinds. And now that is paying off.''

Hamilton has a distinctive leaper in the 6-foot-7-inch junior forward Tim James, a strong complementary scorer in the sophomore guard Johnny Hemsley and an elusive point guard in Kevin Norris, a senior. Best of all for the Hurricanes, their talent pool goes at least nine players deep.

The coach is trying to establish something bigger than just a midseason upset of a top-10 team.

''No team has ever gone to the N.C.A.A. tournament with 12 victories,'' Hamilton said. ''So we need to keep our perspective.''

This man who has been ''saturated with basketball'' much of his life, growing up in North Carolina and being part of three winning college programs, wants his players to experience some of the same thrills.

There is a photograph in Hamilton's home that shows his son Lenny posing with four Kentucky managers after the Wildcats won the 1978 national title.

''He has tears of joy in his eyes,'' Hamilton said of his son. ''He was caught up in the emotion of us winning that national title. For me, I want our players to get a taste of that.''

Photo: Guard Vernon Jennings displays a tattoo of the University of Miami ibis on his right arm. (Gary I. Rothstein for The New York Times)